Department of Justice

Federal Jury Convicts Last Two of Eight Individuals in Money Laundering Scheme

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury yesterday found Erick Estrada-Lopez (41, Jacksonville) and Michael Rounsville (48, Callahan) guilty of crimes arising out of a money laundering scheme. Estrada-Lopez was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. Rounsville, an officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, was convicted of accessing a law enforcement database without authorization for financial gain and in furtherance of the money laundering scheme. He faces a maximum penalty of 5 years’ imprisonment. The sentencing hearings have been scheduled for February 27, 2017.

According to evidence presented at trial, Estrada accepted $42,000 in cash from co-defendant Manuel Rodriguez (33, Middleburg), which was part of $200,000 that Rodriguez had agreed to launder for an undercover agent who was posing as a drug dealer. Estrada deposited the cash in his business bank account and obtained a $42,000 cashier’s check that Rodriguez deposited into his bank account the same day. The next day, Rodriguez wired the $42,000, along with an additional $25,000, into the undercover agent’s covert bank account to complete the laundering of the cash.

At the request of his co-conspirators, Rounsville ran the covert name of the undercover agent through the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (“NCIC”) database and the Florida’s Driver and Vehicle Information Database (“DAVID”), both of which are accessible to law enforcement only. Rounsville then reported the results of those searches to the conspirators. Rodriguez testified at trial that, at the request of another co-defendant, he had delivered an envelope containing an unknown amount of cash to Rounsville while he was engaged in off-duty work at a road construction site in Jacksonville.

"This is an important victory for the American public,” said Kim Lappin, IRS Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge of the Tampa Field Office. “Rooting out public corruption remains one of IRS-CI’s highest priorities and this verdict underscores our commitment to work in a collaborative effort to promote honest and ethical government at all levels and to prosecute those who have violated the public’s trust. IRS Criminal Investigation is proud to provide its financial expertise as we work alongside our law enforcement partners to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations and bring criminals to justice."

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the Nevada Highway Patrol. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier.